2022-2024 Video Games Thread

[sabotai]

I just built a new PC this weekend.

AMD Ryzen 7 3700 with 8 cores
64 GB RAM
Two 1TB SSDs
Radeon RX 580 w/ 8 GB RAM

I wasn't aiming to build a beast, but to find that sweet spot between budget and beast right where prices start going up exponentially. Very happy with how this turned out as I'm playing Red Dead Redemption 2 with decently high settings (found an "optimal settings" guide on Youtube) at 60+ FPS.

On my last PC I had to play RDR2 with everything about as low as it could go and it looked like crap and got ~25 FPS.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by rjolley

Is Parkitect more akin to RCT than Planet Coaster is? Planet Coaster just seems like too much to deal with to get a simple park going. I've booted it a number of times trying to get into it and never get very far.

This has been my experience with Planet Coaster as well. Tried a few times to get into it and it's just not happening.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I just built a new PC this weekend.

AMD Ryzen 7 3700 with 8 cores
64 GB RAM
Two 1TB SSDs
Radeon RX 580 w/ 8 GB RAM

I wasn't aiming to build a beast, but to find that sweet spot between budget and beast right where prices start going up exponentially. Very happy with how this turned out as I'm playing Red Dead Redemption 2 with decently high settings (found an "optimal settings" guide on Youtube) at 60+ FPS.

On my last PC I had to play RDR2 with everything about as low as it could go and it looked like crap and got ~25 FPS.

What was the budget on this? Not including case, etc

[sabotai]

AMD Ryzen 7 = $273 (Amazon)
64 GB RAM = $260 (Amazon) (4 sticks of 16GB)
Two 1TB drives = $280 ($140 each) (Amazon)
Radeon RX 580 = $190 (New Egg)
Gigabyte X570 AORUS ULTRA motherboad = $300 (New Egg)

So around $1300 without the case. But I also had a spare power supply so I didn't need to buy one, so add another $150-$200 for that.

I used PCPartPicker to figure out what to buy.

[stevew]

Thanks. Thinking about doing something like this in the next month or so

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

LOL... from what I've read it's CPU/Ram dependent as well and SSD is almost a must.

Hell, CPU/RAM is my strong suit on my computer. I have a Ryzen 3600, w/ 32 gigs of ram. My weak point is my GTX 1660ti, but that's not even THAT bad of card.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Hell, CPU/RAM is my strong suit on my computer. I have a Ryzen 3600, w/ 32 gigs of ram. My weak point is my GTX 1660ti, but that's not even THAT bad of card.

Not at all.


From what I've watched on YT, low looks horrible but once you step up to medium settings it looks really good to me. Now high a bit better and ultra, well on a 4k monitor looks photo realistic. I was just surprised that the biggest jump was from low to medium.

[Coffee Warlord]

Okay, so the usual "this works for me, who knows if it'll work for you" disclaimer. BUT.

MSFS - Do NOT use the built in fps lock. Assuming you have an Nvidia card, use the FPS limiter in that control panel. I locked mine at 30 fps.

Switching from the frame lock in sim vs the Nvidia one literally moved me from 15-25 fps on medium to constant 30fps on high.

[MizzouRah]

Those of you with MS Flight Sim 2020, how is it?

I just ordered 4x8GB of ram for a total of 32GB of ram as I currently have 4x4GB for a total of 16GB and no more slots available. Newegg had it for $160 which isn't bad.

I want 32GB of Ram before I dive into it next weekend.

[Coffee Warlord]

Flying GA is beautiful.

If you are buying it for the big commercial boats, you're going to be disappointed.

[JonInMiddleGA]

A bit of app game news I guess -- the traditional MyNBA2k21, companion to the annual console game, hit the appstore today ... but without the traditional CCG elements.

So basically it's just a face scan app and that's about it.

The tweet wasn't absolutely specific that the game portion was removed permanently but that's certainly how the wording suggested it.

That was probably good for 10-20 hours of app game grinding per week for me for the past four years so either my last remaining app game (WWE Supercard) will get more grinding or I'm gonna have time to figure out how to fill. I'm kinda less than thrilled about that :/

[Carman Bulldog]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

That was probably good for 10-20 hours of app game grinding per week for me for the past four years so either my last remaining app game (WWE Supercard) will get more grinding or I'm gonna have time to figure out how to fill. I'm kinda less than thrilled about that :/

South Park: Phone Destroyer is excellent. I've heard good things about The Simpsons: Tapped Out but I've never played it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Carman Bulldog

South Park: Phone Destroyer is excellent. I've heard good things about The Simpsons: Tapped Out but I've never played it.

With the exception of once a day round of Homescapes, I'm pretty limited to F2P CCG-styled sports games that have ever held my attention for any length. I'm on my sixth (?) year with WWE Supercard, and I only stopped playing the NHL version because they stopped making it.

It appears atm that well is sorta drying up and I'm not sure what will fill the multi-tasking friendly role those have been playing for quite a while now.

[stevew]

Is this a decent deal on Alienware. They're running 0% for a year and it'd be about 1567$

Tech Specs

Processor
AMD Ryzen™ 7 3700X (8-Core, 32MB L3 Cache, Max Boost Clock of 4.4GHz)
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit English
Video Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
Hard Drive
1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Memoryi
16GB HyperX™ FURY DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz; up to 64GB (additional memory sold separately)

I have the GFX card at around 700 and the CPU at about 300 from searching I think.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by stevew

Is this a decent deal on Alienware. They're running 0% for a year and it'd be about 1567$

Tech Specs

Processor
AMD Ryzen™ 7 3700X (8-Core, 32MB L3 Cache, Max Boost Clock of 4.4GHz)
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit English
Video Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
Hard Drive
1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Memoryi
16GB HyperX™ FURY DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz; up to 64GB (additional memory sold separately)

I have the GFX card at around 700 and the CPU at about 300 from searching I think.

For perspective, I got 0% for two years on an HP Omen, cost me about $1220 after tax. The differences between my specs and yours, mine has the 2060 SUPER, a 256 GB M.2 NVMe SSD + 1 TB HDD, and 16 GB HyperX FURY upgradeable to 32.

Between the 2080 and the 1 TB SSD, $1567 looks about what I'd expect on a cost difference.

[RainMaker]

Is anyone else playing Fall Guys? Kind of silly game but has taken over for Rocket League as a game I play when I have like 20 minutes of free time.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Is anyone else playing Fall Guys? Kind of silly game but has taken over for Rocket League as a game I play when I have like 20 minutes of free time.

I played the beta a bit. I like that its a silly game that even a computer game klutz like me, can play in and make it past the first round or two. I know its been a big hit on Twitch and Social Media

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by stevew

Is this a decent deal on Alienware. They're running 0% for a year and it'd be about 1567$

Tech Specs

Processor
AMD Ryzen™ 7 3700X (8-Core, 32MB L3 Cache, Max Boost Clock of 4.4GHz)
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit English
Video Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
Hard Drive
1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Memoryi
16GB HyperX™ FURY DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz; up to 64GB (additional memory sold separately)

I have the GFX card at around 700 and the CPU at about 300 from searching I think.

Pretty good deal, tbh. I put that into pcpartpicker and came up with around $1400. That doesn't include case, power supply, motherboard, and operating system. A lot of prebuilts I get concerned with them cheaping out on a power supply, but you could always replace that and rewire everything if need be. Seems like a decent deal.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by korme

Does THE LAST OF US PART II need its own thread?

It would seem not to, at least so far, since I'm the only one who has had multiple posts about it.

I finally finished it a couple of days ago in just under 40 hours of gameplay. I'm a slow mover, so a better gamer would likely finish it in around 30ish hours. Overall, I think if you are someone who enjoyed the first installment, you will enjoy the second one. It's a very refined game with varied missions, characters who you care about, and plenty of action. That said, it's not perfect. I probably spent half of my time scrounging for supplies so that I had enough ammo/bombs/medicine packs on hand for the action sequences. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and it is probably the first game I have finished since Last of Us 1.

Spoiler

That said, if you against LGBTQ stuff in your entertainment, you're going to be unhappy. Ellie, the protagonist, is gay, and that leads to several romantic encounters with another female character. Also, the main antagonist in the game, Abby, could be construed as a possible transgender character as well, although I think she is just buffed up to survive in the zombie-filled world.

Joel getting killed by Abby a few hours in provides the motivation for Ellie to seek her revenge on Abby and everyone else allied with her. That need for vengeance drives the narrative of the game.

I didn't like everything about the game. Naughty Dog made the decision to force you to play from Abby's perspective for about half of the game. I realize it was an attempt to humanize her and make the player see that Abby's motivation for violence was driven by a similar tragedy in her past. They also tried to make Abby sympathetic by having her protect a young boy and girl along the way. The game tries to go for an anti-violence message in a similar vein to Terminator 2. In the end, Ellie's need for vengeance costs her everyone that she cares about.

Overall, I found the game to be very enjoyable. I will definitely jump back in if there ever is a Last of Us 3. Naughty Dog knows how to make a compelling game with characters that you care about. There were some truly touching scenes of Joel and Ellie trying to mend their relationship after a rift. I'd give the game a 9 out of 10. Well worth the time and money that I put into it. The things that bothered many gamers who reviewed the game negatively were not a problem for me.

[spleen1015]

Has anyone played Dauntless? I'm looking to play something with a Battle Pass system that is more PVE focused.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Pretty good deal, tbh. I put that into pcpartpicker and came up with around $1400. That doesn't include case, power supply, motherboard, and operating system. A lot of prebuilts I get concerned with them cheaping out on a power supply, but you could always replace that and rewire everything if need be. Seems like a decent deal.

I added water cooling for another 50 or so dollars so hopefully I don't have to crack into it for awhile.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Far be it from me to say that the final day of a Fortnite season brings back every single full-time player in history but ... I have 1 elimination in my last 14 matches and 11 of my deaths have been at the hands of "Anonymous"

Skill-based matchmaking has apparently been turned off for the day, 'cause this is absurd.

[MizzouRah]

Finally purchased and downloaded MSFS 2020, plugged in my thrustmaster and after 4 hours I'm trying to pry myself away to get some shuteye.

The game auto set me up on high end and so far it's been silky smooth on my pc. I'm in total awe at how beautiful this flight sim is. Of course here in STL it's night time so my first flight from Lambert airport was unreal with all the lights and seeing cars travel down I-70 as I took a short flight to Chesterfield airport.

I have a TON of learning to do and I'm sure I'll do all the flight training, but just being able to go on the other side of the globe on a sunny day flying around various parts of the world is nothing short of an incredible feeling.

[thesloppy]

As suggested by someone in another thread, I subscribed to the Xbox gamepass on PC to try out some of these newest games, and the beta is even on sale for $1 for the first month, which seems like a terrific deal for day one access to some of these titles......but good lord the app has been an absolute headache so far and even getting a game installed has been a frustrating challenge.

[SlyBelle1]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

As suggested by someone in another thread, I subscribed to the Xbox gamepass on PC to try out some of these newest games, and the beta is even on sale for $1 for the first month, which seems like a terrific deal for day one access to some of these titles......but good lord the app has been an absolute headache so far and even getting a game installed has been a frustrating challenge.

curious on what kind of install problems. i have had game pass for quite awhile and every game has installed without an issue fir me. the download client isn’t as robust as others but seems to do the basic job, although i wish you could choose the install location.

[MizzouRah]

I purchased directly from MS as I had a Gamestop gift card. It downloaded a few things, said failed and I clicked the download again then it took off. Once it was in the MS 2020 game window it went very smooth.

I don't even think the loading times are that bad in game.

Ok I have a flight to Colorado to make.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by SlyBelle1

curious on what kind of install problems. i have had game pass for quite awhile and every game has installed without an issue fir me. the download client isn’t as robust as others but seems to do the basic job, although i wish you could choose the install location.

I wish I knew what the problem was. It just won't start downloading/installing 99/100 times and gives me some 0xcXXXXX interruption code with a link saying 'click this to learn more' which takes me to a missing page on the Microsoft support page. Eventually some of the games have started downloading on their own and completing installation, whereas some seemingly refuse to start at all.

..all that said, some of it may be my fault as I had manually turned off some of the Xbox-related services long ago, when I had no reason to use them. I turned them all back on which resolved some earlier errors, but not these.

[21C]

Get Tom Clancy's The Division for free at Ubisoft until September 8.
https://register.ubisoft.com/the-division/en-US

[Thomkal]

Good catch, thanks 21C.

[CrimsonFox]

OMG! SOMEONE BEAT THOMKAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

OMG! SOMEONE BEAT THOMKAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just felt bad that I was "hogging all the glory" on reporting free/reduced price games to you all, and wanted to let you "share the joy"

[RainMaker]

Is the Division 2 any good as a co-op game? Been playing Borderlands 3 with some buddies lately and looking for some other games we can play.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Is the Division 2 any good as a co-op game? Been playing Borderlands 3 with some buddies lately and looking for some other games we can play.

Yes! We had a blast playing Co-Op. I play co-op games with three buddies once a week and have been doing so since around 2013 - beginning with Borderlands 2 - so let me know what you're looking for. I've likely tried most of them.

[stevew]

MSFS is taking forever to download. going thru these stupid FSpackages right now via the super shitty content manager. and it's apparently 30+ of these and I'm only on 13. Unfortunately my system went to sleep last night, otherwise it might be done already.

[Critch]

I finally took the jump and paid my $1 for Xbox Gamepass for PC. From one night it's shown me that Phoenix Point is not for me, so that's saved me $30 already. The install was a bit clunky (install button didn't show up to start with) but the uninstall worked with no issues.

Got The Outer Worlds and Wastelands 3 downloading now, getting my money's worth quickly.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Critch

I finally took the jump and paid my $1 for Xbox Gamepass for PC. From one night it's shown me that Phoenix Point is not for me, so that's saved me $30 already. The install was a bit clunky (install button didn't show up to start with) but the uninstall worked with no issues.

Got The Outer Worlds and Wastelands 3 downloading now, getting my money's worth quickly.

The app is trash, but there's value there. OOTP and FM seem to show up every season, so that's probably gonna be in your wheelhouse. CK3 is on there now, and there's a handful of solid RPGs at any given time.

[Edward64]

Baldur's Gate news.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access will be $60, period | PCGamesN

Baldur’s Gate 3 will be entering Early Access September 30, and to participate, you’ll need to pre-order the game. Today, Larian announced pricing for the Early Access launch, and it’s the same as the game will be when it eventually launches: $59.99, or your regional equivalent.

[spleen1015]

Marvel's Avenger's is really good, IMO. I like Marvel though, so I may be biased. Just finished the main campaign and the story was great. I like where it is headed.

I don't have much experience with games like this, ie Destiny/Borderlands. Not sure how the gear grinding endgame is yet.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Baldur's Gate news.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access will be $60, period | PCGamesN

I have a decision to make here. I was sort of excited about this game. But I am not sure I am $60 excited. I am really not feeling $60 to play test it excited. Hmmmmm...

[ISiddiqui]

So the first Next Gen console price has been leaked and then confirmed. The rumored (but never before seen) Xbox Series S:

https://twitter.com/Xbox/status/1303...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

It's going to be $299 (and limited to 1080p), which is the same price as a Switch. It will likely fly off the shelves for cost conscious gamers (and parents).

No release date.

Interestingly the Xbox Series X and PS5 are due to be released in about 2 months and no pricing for them at all (they still seem to be playing a game of chicken). [edit: though the rumor is that the Series X price will be released this week and it will be $499]

I was initially excited about the Series X, but the lack of any information, combined with some really cool gameplay and exclusives of the PS5 have made me lean Sony - guess I'll have to learn those weird shapes.

[Kodos]

I skipped Xbox in the current generation. Will likely do the same with the coming generation. I don't play enough to justify owning both systems.

[spleen1015]

Current gen there were several exclusives that made me what a PS4. Can't say the same about the Xbox 1. It is the first console I haven't owned.

[MizzouRah]

I believe the Xbox Series S is actually 1440p/120fps with 4k upscaling.. but no blue ray drive and only a 512GB SSD.

I'll definitely get the X as I still like to buy most of my games via disc so I can trade them in at some point, plus it has a 1TB SSD.

I hate all things Sony (and Nike and Pepsi and a few other name brands).. where is MBBF so we can argue xb vs ps?

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I believe the Xbox Series S is actually 1440p/120fps with 4k upscaling.. but no blue ray drive and only a 512GB SSD.

I'll definitely get the X as I still like to buy most of my games via disc so I can trade them in at some point, plus it has a 1TB SSD.

I hate all things Sony (and Nike and Pepsi and a few other name brands).. where is MBBF so we can argue xb vs ps?

I was all in on the Series X, but as the year has gone on, Xbox has lost me quite a bit - especially with lack of 'wow' content (and has any gameplay been shown actually running on the Series X?). I'm now thinking the PS5, which would be my first Sony console ever, at launch. And then maybe the Series S a year down the road.

The Sony exclusives machine may have finally turned me.

[stevew]

I’m probably sitting out until GTA6 comes out. I have a good PC now. If GTA is day and date with console I prob won’t bother. GTA 6 might not happen til 2024 I think I read

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I was all in on the Series X, but as the year has gone on, Xbox has lost me quite a bit - especially with lack of 'wow' content (and has any gameplay been shown actually running on the Series X?). I'm now thinking the PS5, which would be my first Sony console ever, at launch. And then maybe the Series S a year down the road.

The Sony exclusives machine may have finally turned me.

I plan on getting gamepass very soon and I mostly play sports games. I believe The Show is coming to Xbox next year as well.

I haven't seen any gameplay for either console yet. It's going to be Christmas or sometime after before I really look into getting it.

[ISiddiqui]

I believe just about all the Sony games at their reveal were on the PS5 (XSX reveal had games playing on PCs - maybe Forza has it's trailer on XSX hardware). And the 10 or so minutes of Ratchet and Clank were on PS5.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I believe just about all the Sony games at their reveal were on the PS5 (XSX reveal had games playing on PCs - maybe Forza has it's trailer on XSX hardware). And the 10 or so minutes of Ratchet and Clank were on PS5.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

I meant gameplay that interests me.

[Izulde]

I don't know that I've ever gotten a console at launch. PS5 won't be any different I'm sure. But I haven't bought an XBox since the 360 and that's not going to change. These days I use my consoles primarily as a streaming device, with some gameplay thrown in. Unless it's the Switch - I play quite a lot on that (usually Fire Emblem: Three Houses).

[SackAttack]

I'm toying with the idea of the Series S just for GamePass. I only have one 4k port in my TV anyway, and I plan to use that for PS5. So the Series S for $299, if the 512 SSD is at all upgradeable down the line, is why not?